Roland SP540 Bi/Uni directional

[select426]

I was wondering if anyone has had any problems with uni/bi directional printing. When printing on bi-directional the print is horrible and out of focus but as soon as you print on uni-directional the print clears up and looks great. We have changed the reading eye and that did not help. Anyone have any other suggestions or has seen this before?

Chris

 

[ChiknNutz]

Adjust the BI-DIRECTIONAL calibration...found on the main panel menu...it is probably all out of whack.

 

[ballgame]

It could be your linear encoder, how old is your printer?

 

[select426]

We try changing the bi-directional adjustment, get it all set up perfect and then do another test print and it is out of whack again.
I was worried it may be the linear strip but we don;t have easy access to service, 4 hour drive one way for a tech to come. Has anyone changed one themselves? how hard are they to change?

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[ballgame]

You don't have to change it, you just have to clean it. Try not to scratch it

 

[select426]

We tried cleaning it with alchol swabs and q-tips and it still does the same thing.
I just looked at the service manual and it does not look to bad to change it is just the fact that the part is 500 cnd and if that does not fix our problem, like the lens did not we are out another 500 bucks.

 

[ChiknNutz]

Environmental match? Not likely to make much difference, but some.

 

[InkjetAuction]

Encoder...

Ah the encoder strip... actually had a customer forcibly pull it out because it was in the way of her cleaning the track on her SP-300. She thought it was decorative....

In any case, probably a combination of the encoder strip and more likely the Encoder Sensor.

Half of the Linear Encoder Strip sits hidden in a track. You can flip the encoder strip over to use the previously unexposed side.

You can carefully remove the encode strip, clean it (with isopropyl), and carefully reinstall it flipped over. You may have to punch a hole on the right side of the strip to make the bracket fit properly. You really should reinitialize the limit and recalibrate the strip when complete.

As for the sensor board... you may be able to clean it with an alcohol swab. Also make sure it's screwed down and not moving. It just may need replacing.

Feel free to PM me if you need specific assistance.

~E

 

[Jester1167]

Make sure someone did not flip the head height to high, and another culprit this time of year is static. Static does all kinds of wonderful things.

Good Luck

 

[select426]

I never even thought about flipping it. Have you seen this/done this with sucess?

We tried the envirmental adjustment and that did not help either.

Thank you to everyone who is tossing ideas our way, i am willing to try andything to get this thing going to where it should be. We start our busy season this week and this thing will run 24hrs a day till july now.

Thanks again everyone and i look forward to reading some other things we may want to try.

 

[select426]

Thanks for all the help everyone, it appears to be back on track now, thanks again for everyones help. This site and your help just saved me a bunch of time and money.